James Rocke
Executive Director & Community Leader
James has a great love and passion for serving people and organizations and comes to us with 30 years of experience in the health and human services field. James previously oversaw programs that provided specialized care and treatment services to vulnerable and at-risk populations with diverse and complex needs, residing in community-based home care and residential treatment settings, as well as supportive and independent living environments.
James also has the unique personal background of growing up in his grandmother’s board and care home, where she served seniors and adults with special needs. Little Jimmy (as his grandma called him) lived in a small room in the attic above her “Guest Home” and acted as both a companion and aide helping his grandmother take care of the daily needs of her guests.
James is excited to be part of the L’Arche Wavecrest team and he is looking forward to helping strengthen our current programs and services, while also helping to expand our reach and impact in the community.
Joined us in April 2024
Shantae Mayares
Community Care Manager/Assistant ARF Admin
Shantae came to L’Arche Wavecrest with countless hours of volunteer and community service work, along with several years of managerial experience. She walked in with an open heart and the burning desire to expand her personal impact in our community. Shantae has progressively taken on additional responsibilities and has been committed to learning and doing whatever it takes to fulfill her personal mission and goals, as evidenced by her recent achievement of becoming a certified Adult Residential Facility Administrator.
When she’s not at L’Arche Wavecrest, Shantae enjoys spending family time with her husband and their incredible children. Her entire family is heavily involved in their local church and are dedicated to building community around their faith. She and her family enjoy taking frequent nature trips to camp, hike, fish and enjoy the great outdoors.
Joined us in January 2024
Joseph Mayares
House Leader/DSP I – Abraham House
Bio coming soon…
Joined us in July 2024
Tiffany McClary
House Leader/DSP I – Haven House
Bio coming soon….
Joined us in August 2024
Jordan Mapes
Direct Service Professional II/Core Member Assistant
Jordan is collaborative, servant-hearted, and a close, well-trusted companion to our Core Members. Jordan literally grew up across the street from our Abraham House and joined the L’Arche Wavecrest team with long-term volunteer-hours and relationships already established with our Core Members since his youth. Over the years Jordan has taken on a variety of additional responsibilities, including coordinating activities, facilitating prayer night and has also stepped up to help cover with vacant house leader duties when needed.
Jordan is quite the character when it comes to special events, especially when dressing up for Halloween or promoting a new super hero movie he really loves. Around the house Jordan is often referred to as “MC Supreme” for his skills as our master of ceremonies when facilitating in house celebrations and events.
Joined us in March 2019
Creed
Future ARF Administrator in Training
Creed is the most recent addition to the team with our Abraham House Live-In family, led by Joe and Shantae. Creed loves having four big brother Core Members to share time with. Our Core Members enjoy walking to pick Creed up from school and then playing some afternoon basketball in the backyard together. Creed also enjoys watching some occasional TV and playing video games with our Core Members. When Creed isn’t busy listening to his parents to do his homework or clean his room, he enjoys drawing and playing with his Godzilla and sea creature action figures.
Our Executive Director not so secretly hopes Creed wants to follow in his parents footsteps and pursue a management career in our field. Creed recently received an award at his school for 100% accuracy on 34 of 34 math quizzes, so even if he’s not interested in operations, he most certainly can grow into being our future CFO!
Joined us in August 2024
Board of Directors
John Cain
Board President
John has had a 35-year career in river conservation. Over that time, he has worked exclusively for non-profit organizations to plan and implement habitat restoration efforts in California’s Central Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. At River Partners, his current employer, he specializes in developing multi-benefit restoration projects that improve water supply, reduce flood risk, and provide parks and open space for disadvantaged communities. John holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Planning from the University of California Berkeley.
His sister Terry Cain, who passed away in 2023, was one of the founding Core Members of L’Arche Wavecrest. John has served on the Board since 2015. Prior to accepting the Board President position in late 2023, John served as Board Treasurer. John is grateful for the community Wavecrest created for Terry and her entire family and wants you to know that you are welcome to contact him personally if you want to help Wavecrest in any way. Everybody is welcome.
Eduardo Moreno Cerezo
Board Vice President
Eduardo Moreno Cerezo is a program officer at the at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Catholic Sisters Initiative. In this role, he serves as a key thought partner responsible for designing, developing, managing and monitoring a portfolio of grants that supports congregations, organizations and human development activities in the U.S. and Latin America. Prior to the Foundation, Eduardo worked for Catholic Health System, Providence Saint Joseph Health as a Healthy Communities Manager in southern California.
Eduardo has over 18 years of experience addressing health disparities and equity with multi-cultural groups on public health, community development, social policy, advocacy and grantmaking at health care and non-profit organizations in the United States and Latin America.
Martha Cain
Board Secretary
Martha Cain is a retired public school educator who spent the majority of her teaching career at the middle school level teaching art, English and history.
Her sister, Terry Cain, was one of the founding Core Members of L’Arche Wavecrest. In addition to the L’Arche Wavecrest Board, Martha is President of the Board of the People’s Life Fund, an organization that makes grants to grassroots groups working for peace, social justice and a sustainable environment.
Martha is also a very active member of the Berkeley Unified School District Climate Literacy Working Group.
Tita Smith
Board Member
Former mayor of the City of Orange, Teresa “Tita” Smith has a long, professional history working with faith-based and other nonprofits advancing family and social welfare, drug abuse prevention and mental health. She worked at Catholic Charities of Orange County as Director of Family Services, and was subsequently promoted to Executive Director in 2009. She retired from the organization in December 2019.
Tita holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Science from the University of California, Irvine; she was in the University’s first freshman class. After 20 years of social work in our local community, she earned a Masters in Social Work from University of Southern California (USC). She is a seventh generation California native and a fifth-generation resident of Orange. Tita is married to Bill Smith.
Cindy LeBeau
Board Member
Cindy is a Human Resource and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Professional with over 30 years of professional experience.
Cindy led the Human Resources team while working for an Orange County based non-profit organization that served adolescents in a residential care/group home environment. She oversaw and helped facilitate the growth of the company and it’s employee base from 50 employees, to over 200 employees in the five years she was the HR Director.
An interesting fact about Cindy is that her Great Grandfather was the founder of one of the largest children’s residential treatment centers in the Inland Empire, that to this day is still providing treatment services to adolescents with behavior and mental health challenges.
Cindy lives locally in Orange County, is happily married, and has two beautiful children currently attending college.
Ted Bean
Board Member
Ted E. Bean is a veteran commercial/industrial real estate broker and asset manager in Orange County. Ted manages and oversees the acquisition and disposition of real estate assets, including a privately held real estate portfolio.
Ted currently serves as a Board Member for a large housing foundation, which provides affordable housing to low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled.
Ted has previously served as a Board Member/Vice President of another local non-profit organization that provided residential services for troubled adolescents. Ted was instrumental in the growth spurt that allowed this organization to expand it’s services and reach in the community.
Mr. Bean earned his BA degree in Business from California State University San Bernardino and his MBA from Golden Gate University, San Francisco.
Karen Carr
Board Ambassador
The inspiration behind our perspiration is none other than Karen Carr herself. She is the Founder and Visionary that worked tirelessly for years and years to create and start up what we all know today as L’Arche Wavecrest.
Our work is far from done though, with so many more lives that we can have a positive impact on, so Karen has stepped up to the challenge of inspiring and mentoring the new generation of L’Arche Wavecrest leadership, as we move forward with our growth and expansion plans.
“My hope for the future of Wavecrest is that the philosophy and spirituality of L’Arche continue as an integral part of its expansion. In expansion, multiple homes become sources of strength for and to each other, as well as infusing a greater compassion and influence more broadly. Our mission is a compassionate, important mission. I find so much joy in its growth, and so much inspiration in the people that continue forward. Our journey has, and will continue to be, truly a blessed one.”
Marianne Loewe
Emeritus Board President
Marianne graduated from Mount St. Mary’s College (Los Angeles, CA), with a degree in classical languages, and completed the M.A. program of studies in Applied Theology from the School of Applied Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.
In the mid-1970s, while teaching elementary school, mostly junior high students, Marianne served as a Board Member of a unique international nonprofit, Concern America, before being asked to become its director in 1979, where she worked until May 2012.
Marianne formerly inherited the Wavecrest Board President role from Sr. Michelle Tochtrop in 2016. She was also on the St. Joseph Health System Foundation Board, based in Orange, California, for seven years. During the 1980s Marianne was a member of the Board of Directors of LULAC Headstart in Long Beach and on the Los Angeles End Hunger Coalition.